Human Rights Violation of Displaced Women Contaminated by Hiv

16

SWAA-BURUNDI Isis- Women’s International

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HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION OF DISPLACED WOMEN CONTAMINATED BY HIV:

A STUDY CASE OF CARAMA AND KIYANGE SITES

Par Thérèse NTAHOMPAGAZE

Juillet 2002

CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION 2

I.1. General information about BURUNDI 2

I.2. Aims of study 3

I.3. Methodological Approach 4

I.3.1.Methodology 4

I.3.2. Sample 4

II BACKGROUND AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM 5

II. 1. Prelude 5

II. 2. Presentation of the population 5

II.2.1. The Burundian conflict 5

II.2.2 The situation of displaced women. 8

II.2.3. Epidemic situation of HIV/AIDS in Burundi 9

II. 2.4. Violence exercised on Barundi women. 11

III. Discussion of findings 12

III.1. Sampling 12

III. Areas of origin and reasons of the displacement. 15

III. 3. Main factors of HIV propagation in times of war 16

The promiscuity 17

The juvenile delinquency 17

The widow 17

The rape 18

III. 4. What are violated human rights for woman contaminated by HIV/AIDS? 19

The right to life and people‘s integrity. 19

Right to justice 19

Right to ownerships 19

Right to equal law and right 19

Right to social security. 19

Right to a sufficient standard of living. 19

III. 5. What are the needs of displaced women contaminated by HIV? 19

IV. Conclusion and recommendations 19

I. INTRODUCTION

This hereby presented research intends to describe and analyze the life of displaced women living with HIV /AIDS within CARAMA and KIYANGE sites. We are not pretending to be able to account for the whole range of violated human rights but we are going to talk about very common ones, which need assistance from defenders of human rights on the government and other jurisdictions existing in Burundi.

This study has been conducted thanks to the support of Isis-WICCE within the framework of its October 2001‘s training and SWAA-BURUNDI.

Furthermore, the above training‘s aims were the reduction of violence exercised on woman and an improvement of women’s welfare with special emphasis on women living with HIV.

I.1. General information about BURUNDI

Burundi is located in central Africa. It also belongs to the group of Great Lakes countries. Yet, one of its major problems is its geographical enclavement. In the North, there is Rwanda, in the East and South, there is Tanzania and finally Burundi is in the neighbourhood with the Democratic Republic of Congo. It would also be pointed out that Burundi is also situated in the intertropical area between 2°45 and 4°28 in the Southern latitude.

Moreover, it has a tropical weather with 9 months of rainy season and 3months of dry season.

This nation is extended on 27, 834 square kilometres and its total population is estimated to around 6,194,220 people among whom we find 3,425,302 women. In addition to this, 5,720, 936 people are from rural areas – that is, 92, 53% of the whole population – with a density of 230 people per square kilometre and an increase – rate of 3% per year. The average density of the whole country’s space is estimated at 347 people per square kilometre.

As all other third world countries, Burundi is a nation where are high rates of fecundity and death rates. The birth rate was evaluated at 6. 28 children per woman (in 1990) while the mortality rate of children below 5 years old was

2.04 %. Moreover, the women’s mortality rate is 800 per hundred thousand The birth rate is 44. 3 per thousand. The life expectancy at birth was 49 years in 1995.

Essentially based on agriculture, the economy of Burundi is challenged by a serious demographic problem but which can’t be considered as irremediable.

Being a country where 93% of its active population is from the agricultural sector, the total agricultural production is consumed by the total population. This is mainly due to its rapid demographic growth. Moreover, Burundi exports coffee and tea.

Nowadays, this country is among the fifteen poorest countries of the world. As (it) is the case of other countries of the Great Lakes region, the Burundi‘s efforts in the amelioration of the macro- economic context and the bad situation of households are challenged by the socio- political instability.

I.2. Aims of study

General objectives

1.  Setting up a juridical assistance to displaced women living with HIV and their children.

2.  Organization of a consensus with displaced women contaminated by HIV/AIDS.

Specific objectives

1.  Finding out factors, which favour the propagation of HIV/AIDS among women during the period of war.

2.  To identify the different violations of human rights observed among women living with HIV in the sites of CARAMA and KIYANGE in Bujumbura.

3.  To make an inventory of needs for an amelioration of women’s welfare.

4.  To identify the problems faced by the target population, which require a judicial intervention.

5.  To formulate different recommendations for a consensus in favour of displaced women contaminated by HIV/AIDS.

I.3. Methodological Approach

I.3.1.Methodology

Our study has associated qualitative and quantitative research techniques.

As for as the qualitative approach is concerned; the privileged method is the so-called ‘focus- group’. But with regards to the quantitative approach, we have prepared a questionnaire, which was designed for face –to face interviews. As for our research field, we intended to find out:

o  The causes of the displacement

o  The factors facilitating the propagation of HIV/AIDS in times of war.

o  The different human rights violations committed to the target population

o  The judicial problems that, those women and their children face.

o  Those women‘s wishes.

I.3.2. Sample

50 women (contaminated by HIV) identified and assisted by SWAA-Burundi and who have voluntarily accepted to participate in the present research. They were all displaced women living in the Kiyange and Carama sites. The latter live in the northern part of Bujumbura city. 530 families (2.650 people) , 512 families (2.600 people) live in those camps.

Before 1997, those areas were just rice-fields .The nowadays inhabitants

(Displaced people) are sheltered after they fled the October 1993’s massacres and the 1994‘s other social crisis of Kinama, Kamenge, Buterere, and Gasenyi without forgetting other troubles, which derived from either social or political issues.

During all those years, they have lived in the walls of primary schools of Ngagara quarters, in the St Michel parish, in Buyenzi quarters as well as in hosts families.

During the course of time, they have been forced to leave those school establishments or settings since February and March 1997.

The life conditions in those sites were precarious, mostly in the first days, in a way that 8 deaths per day were registered among children.

II BACKGROUND AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM

II. 1. Prelude

In carrying out the present study, we referred ourselves to the Burundi conflicts, its genesis, its evolution ;it’s nowadays as well as its consequences particularly the displacements of populations. Besides, we need to be aware of the epidemic situation of HIV in Burundi because they are those problems and their drawbacks which challenge Barundi people in general and Barundi women in particular.

II. 2. Presentation of the population

II.2.1. The Burundian conflict

The Burundian conflict can be presented through different aspects. As far as we are concerned, we had tried to analyze the nature and the historical causes of the conflicts all along three periods of time which are more relatively recent.

1.The pre-colonial period

During this period, all the ethnic groups in Burundi were under the rule of the same monarch, the king UMWAMI. According to their religion, they all believed in one god, Imana. Furthermore, they had the same culture, spoke the same language, KIRUNDI and lived together in the same territory BURUNDI.

The existence of the group BASHINGANTAHE chosen among the BAGANWA, the Bahutu and the Batutsi social clans – who were acting as lawyers and counsellors at all levels of power – has constituted, in a way or another, a factor of unity and cohesion among Barundi.

Due to the managerial system of the country affairs, there has been no conflict of ethnic type observed between the different ethnic groups during that period. However, certain traditional practices such as ukunena (despising another person), ukwihutura (changingone’s ethnic identity

from hutu to tutsi), ukunyaga ( to take by forcesomeone’s cows/property) etc, could be sources of injustices and frustration among Bahutu, Batutsi, and Batwa.

2. The colonial period

Firstly and secondary, the German and Belgium colonial administration respectively under the mandate of society of nations and the highest tutelage of united nations, have played a determinant role on the reinforcement of the frustration among Bahutu, Batutsi and Batwa. Moreover, they play a great role on the different divisions which took ethnic tendency within the framework of the “divide and rule” strategy; the colonial administration has emphasized and imposed a racist and cultural vision of the Burundian society. To this can be added the different prejudices and clichés based on morphological considerations which were intended to oppose the different components of the Burundian population on the basis of physical and psychological traits.

The colonizer has particularly introduced an identity card which had a specification of one’s ethnic belonging and the card, in this way, reinforced an ethnic conscience at the decrease of the nationalistic conscience. The colonizer has also manipulated at his advantage the existing system via discriminatory practices.

Just at the eve of the independence, the colonizer, feeling his power insane, has intensified his divisionistic doctrine and, in this way, has provoked sensible socio-political fights. But, because of the charismatic leadership of “Prince Louis RWAGASORE” and his fellow people, the colonizer saw himself forbidden to conduct the population in a form of political confrontation based on ethnic-oriented considerations.

The same leadership has consequently enabled the country to get access to its independence in an atmosphere of peace and national concord.

After the independence and all along the different regimes that followed, a set of phenomena constantly took place and they have generated conflicts which are still prevailing until now. The historian Jean Paul Chrétien has referred to them as the “missed occasions” as a criticism to the lack of national unity. That is, a criticism of the exclusion in the management of public affairs, nepotism, regionalism and ethnism, generalized violence and deliberate massacres.

In conclusion, since the Independence Day, acts of genocide, crimes of war and other crimes against humanity have been perpetrated against Hutu and Tutsi ethnic communities. During those crimes, women and children were the most victims as were the cases of the conflicts in 1965, 1972, 1988, 1991, and 1993.

All this justifies in a way or another the existence of the displaced people’s camps which are found in every part of the country, even in BUJUMBURA mayorship, as is the case of CARAMA and KIYANGE sites.

Moreover, we find other thousands of refugees outside the country. Here, it should be pointed out that the return to their former native properties or compounds is being done progressively via the Arusha Peace Agreement and by means of the transitional government that has been established after the Arusha peace accord.

The prevailing conflict broke out since October 21st, 1993 by the assassination of democratically elected president and the resulting massacres of innocent people. It has been characterized by the inter-ethnic murders.

In addition, armed groups have been constituted and have joined ancient groups of rebels with the pretext of defending democracy.

There have been thousands of killings and a lot of displacements of the Burundian population. Around one million of people were displaced inside and outside the country.

The assassination of the president has created an institutional empty gap.

As a consequence and unfortunately, in a will to replace him, the major political families together with the civil society created the government convention which has not been able either to function in an adequate way or to stop the level of increasing and generalized insecurity. The chaos which prevailed at the level of members of government and in the entire country has conducted to the political change of July 25th, 1996 which brought back again to power President Pierre BUYOYA.

By trying to reestablish the peace, the new power government has undertaken negotiations with the armed groups clandestinely first and officially afterwards. It has launched internal peace-talks and dialogues and the signature on the convention of parternership reinforced relationships between the parliament and the government. Afterwards, negotiations were held in Arusha under the mediation of the former Tanzanian president, Julius NYERERE.

After the death of the latter, the two political parties involved in conflict and the international community has understood on the mediation to be led by the former South African president, Nelson MANDELA. It is in this way that debates on peace talks have come up with the signing of the Arusha peace accord of August 28th, 2000. These agreements are actually being put into application by the so-called transitional government institutions: a government, a parliament and a senate of transition which were institutionalized since November 2001.

Moreover, those institutions have a mandate of 36 months, to re-establish the peace and to organize elections. However what is worth mentioning is that the cease-fire is not agreed upon until now and the war is still going on.

Also, some armed groups did not sign the peace accord and are continuing the war. Peace-talks between the government and those rebels’ groups have been launched under the mediation of the deputy-president of South Africa: Jacob ZOOMA and the president of Gabon, BONGO, however characterized by a series of missed appointments. Despite this challenging situation, the Burundian refugees from Tanzania are nevertheless still returning in their homeland in a great number.

II.2.2 The situation of displaced women.

The Burundian context of war and insecurity has great repercussions on the social life of the country in general and on the life of Burundian women in particular.

In this period of war, the need of security has pushed the population to gather themselves into groups spontaneously or under the authorities’ initiatives.